The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1887-12-09

know it as we'll as L"
II hope it, at least, even more than
you, sir, replied La Pommerais. "But
Il is not, after all, any violent or rapid
physical pain tany pain momentarIly
experienced in the general panic Of
senses, and soon stihed by the ~irresist-
ible advent Of death), it is nothing Of that
sort which / fear. 1t is-something
| else"
aWiIl you try to try to specify it?"
said Velpeau.
Listen" answered La Pommerais.
after a moments silence. 1.-THE organs
Of memory and of will, if they are, in
man, circumscribed within the same
lobes in which we have found them to
exist in--the dog, for instance, these
organs, 4 say, are untouched by the
knife in its passage. We have too many
ambiguous cases on record-cases as
disquieting as they are incomprehensi-
bic, TO allow myself TO ne easily per-
suaded that unconsciousness ensues inn
mediately after decapitation. How
many heads do we read of in the old
traditions which, when called by name,
have turned their eyes toward the call
err? It is vain to call these cases mere
cases of nerve memory, reflex move
ments, &c. Doyou remember the head
of that sailor which, during a clinical
lecture, n hour and q quarter after
decollatlon, actually bit in two a pencil
placed between its jaws, by a movement
which may have been in voluntary? To
select only this one case out of q thous-
and. what remains to be known is wheth-
er it was or was not the Ego of that man
which gave impulse to the muscles of
the bloodless head. Who can reveal it ?
Before eight days more have passed /
shall have learned it and-forgotten
| it." ,
sit depends, perhaps, upon You,"
said Velpeau, fixing his eyes upon those
of his i~nterlocutor, whether humanity
will be positively enlightened upon
this subject. And now, to be frank, it
is upon this very matter that l have
come to onyer with you. / have
been commissioned to visit you by our
most eminent colleagues of the Faculty
of Paris; here is my passport signed by
the emperor. 1t empowers me even,
in case of necessity, to postpone the
time Of your execution. In the name
| of that science which is dear to both of
us, and the number of whose magnani-
nous martyrs is now beyond reckoning
/ come to demand of you the greatest
sum of energy and intrepidity of which
your being is capable. / am aware that
whatever might be your good viii in
the man, everything so far known teach
es us to expect q negative result; but
nevertheless, Your case affords us one
chance in ten thousand of enlightening
modern physiology. The occasion
ought, therefore, be made the most of.
In the event that you are able after the
execution to exchange with me one tri-
umphant sign of intelligence you will
leavea name whose scientific glory will
forever efface the remembrance of your
failings toward society"
"AhI" murmured La Pommerals, sud-
denly becoming wan, but with a reso-
lutte smile-"ah! / begin to understand.
1t is true Ghat executions have already
revealed the phenomena or digestion,
as Michelot says. And what sort Of ex-
pertinent do you propose to make? Gal
vanic shocks fluctuations ofthe cillary?
injections of arterial blood? None of
these will be very conclusive"
mo! but at the moment the knife
falls / shall be there, before you, stand
ing by the machine. As soon as posi-
BILE your hs2d will pass from the hands
of the executioner into mine. Andthen
flor the experience can only be serious
~ conclusive by every reason of its sim
plicity)-then / will call very distinctly
in your ears Monsieur County de la
Pommera;s. in remembrance of our
compact during life, can you close the
lid Of your right eye three
times in succession, keeping
the other openp If at that moment,
whatever be the otEer contraction of the
fancies, you can give nae to understand
by that triple wink that you have heard
and understood me-proyng the fact
by the act Of perfect memory and the
control you viii have to exercise over
your palpebral muscles, zygomatic
nerve, and coniunctive-thus denomi-
mating all the horror, all the surging
of all other new and strange impress
sions of your being-that fact viii suf-
flee to illuminate science and to revo-
lutionize our beliefs. And do not
doubt but that / shall be able torecord
the fact in such a that you viii
leave behind you the mefnory Of hero,
rather than that of a criminal.
M. de la Pommerais rose up without
q word, paced to and fro for . moment
with o very thoughtful air, and finally,
with q sad shake of the head, replied
"The horrible violence Of the blow
will destroy my self-possession. To re-
alize such a project seems TO me some
thing above oil human powers Of wilIto
accomplish. Besides, it is said that the
chances Of viability are not the same for
all victims of the g~uillotine. Neverthe-
less, sir, come on the morning of the
execution. Ishall then tell You whether
I will lend myself as . project so bright
full, revolving and Elusive as this is. If
I say no-then I may rely upon you,
I0v,HflUao - La vnxr EAoH k1Aad oil ZEE